Fans of the series won't be disappointed at all.

Now that Mab Monroe is finally gone and Gin’s identity has become common knowledge, every aspiring criminal out there is trying to make a name for himself by killing the (in)famous Spider. Sophia Deveraux is busier than ever, what with cooking for all the people who come to the Pork Pit to stare at Gin and getting rid of the bodies Gin leaves behind in their back alley. So when Finn suggests a vacation for the four of them (Gin, Owen, Bria and himself), Gin jumps at the chance to leave town, hoping things would blow over by the time she gets back. She’s also excited about spending some time with her newly found baby sister, but Gin is well aware that things rarely work out the way she wants them to. Thinking that she’ll really be able to enjoy an uninterrupted vacation would be downright naïve, and let’s face it, Spider may be many things, but naïve she’s not. Fortunately, she never goes anywhere without her five Silverstone knives – the ones Owen made especially for her. She’ll need them to fight a foe even worse than Mab Monroe. It’s a shame that she can’t use her knives to resolve emotional issues as well, especially when her former lover, the much despised Donovan Caine, comes back into the picture.

The beginning of By a Thread was a little hard for me. I was disappointed in Gin, especially when it came to her attitude towards her baby sister. She carried all this guilt and allowed Bria to make her feel not good enough, making the same mistakes she’d made with Donovan Caine. I’m not used to Gin feeling so helpless and inadequate and when she kept beating herself up over things she had no way to control, it was infuriating and really hard to read. I’m glad to say that there was a reason for this and that it became apparent in the second half of the book.

I know this is a strange thing for me to say, but I’m normally not a big fan of fight scenes. There is just something messy about them that doesn’t appeal to me at all. Fortunately, the ones written by Estep are among the rare exceptions. She writes these scenes with such clarity, describing just one thing at a time, thus allowing me to picture them vividly in my head, and yet somehow making them rich, eventful and extremely interesting.

To me, Mab Monroe was never especially scary, and I’m glad to be rid of her. Her actions never once sent chills down my spine and I was never truly worried about Gin when she was fighting her or the ones Mab sent after her. But the vampire who feeds on elementals to absorb their powers was a very convincing villain. I knew, of course, that Gin will make it out eventually, but I was unsure of how damaged she’ll be. Major points to Ms. Estep for that.

Old fans, I promise you won’t be disappointed. And those of you who haven’t even started the series, try the first book. Jennifer Estep maintains the same level of quality throughout the series. If the first one works for you (as it did for me) the rest surely will, too.

A copy of this book was kindly provided by the author for review purposes.

For this review and more, please visit The Nocturnal Library